A Dangerous Maid

A Dangerous Maid is a musical with a book by Charles W. Bell, music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. The script is based on Bell's 1918 play A Dislocated Honeymoon. The story concerns an ex-showgirl who elopes with a society boy, but his family tries to break up the marriage. The Gershwins wrote ten songs for the musical, eight of which were used in the production, which premiered in Atlantic City, New Jersey on March 21, 1921. It toured through several cities and ended in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where it closed on April 16, 1921.

The show was George Gershwin's second book musical and his first full score written with his brother Ira. The book is believed to be lost. The show is one of the few Gershwin musicals that never made it to Broadway. The book was revised and retitled Elsie and, later, entirely new music was written for it by Eubie Blake and others. This version was produced on Broadway in April 1923. Even though Elsie ran for only 40 performances, it made history as a rare early example of black songwriters writing for white performers. No one knows why director Edgar MacGregor abandoned the Gershwin score. Several of the songs were later reused, and Ella Fitzgerald had a success in 1959 with her recording of "Boy Wanted".